Supervised Exercise for Older Women Recently Diagnosed with Breast Cancer: A Pragmatic Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial

Background: There is compelling evidence of the benefits that women with breast cancer can experience by participating in physical activity during or post cancer treatment. However, research in this field has been largely conducted with younger women with breast cancer (aged up to 60 years). Evidence from older women with breast cancer is very limited, despite the higher incidence of diagnosis and lower survival rates in this population. Pilot and feasibility work is considered essential to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of intervention procedures and trial design especially with an under-researched population and is strongly recommended by the Medical Research Council (MRC) when designing or conducting complex healthcare interventions (Craig et al., 2008). To redress this imbalance, the aim of this research was to conduct a pragmatic pilot randomised controlled study of a supervised exercise intervention for older women (aged 60 years and over) with breast cancer to consider whether a 12-week supervised exercise intervention and home-based exercise programme versus usual care was feasible and acceptable. This was done by assessing trial intervention procedures and outcome measures, along with interviews to consider barriers to and motivators for physical activity, with the aim of informing the viability of progressing to a full-scale randomised controlled trial with this population.